Thursday, April 29, 2010

At Fr. van derPeet's funeral yesterday I ran into my old friend Mary Brittnacher, who runs the Catholic Book Review Monthly web page. I've mentioned it before on this blog, but it has been some time since I looked at it myself. Wow! Have I been missing some great reviews! Here is the list from the last year:

Newman 101: An Introduction to the Life and Philosophy of John Cardinal Newman by Roderick Strange, Christian Classics, 2008. Download

Newman 101: An Introduction to the Life and Philosophy of John Cardinal Newman by Roderick Strange, Christian Classics, 2008. Download

How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization by Thomas E. Woods, Jr., Regnery Publishing, Inc., 20 Download

Second One Thousand Years: Ten People Who Defined a Millennium by Richard John Neuhaus, editor, William B. EerdmansDownload

As you might suspect, Mary is both a Chestertonian and a ROFTer (Reader of First Things).

Here is the mission statement of Catholic Book Review Monthly. It's purpose corresponds closely to the purpose of this blog:

Our goal is to provide a gateway into good and great books for readers who wish to read spiritual books from an authentically Catholic perspective. We aim to help readers select from the vast array of books available from both the past and the present with an emphasis on the more recent. An author profile or links to information about the author will be included when appropriate.

The reviews are meant to be primarily summaries of the books, rather than criticalassessments, though they may occasionally contain elements of criticism. Thus the reader can obtain some of the benefits of the book, and may be stimulated to read it as well.

I think Mary writes some of the reviews, and Chris Chan writes others. I don't know if she has any other contributors.